Murder cases down, over 95,000 kidnapped in 2017: NCRB data

The latest data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released on Monday revealed that more than 50 lakh cases of cognisable crimes were registered across the country in 2017 - an increase of 3.6 per cent from 2016. It is to be that NCRB has released the annual crime data for 2017 after a delay of more than a year.

According to NCRB data, murder cases went down 5.9 per cent in 2017 as 28,653 killings were recorded in 2017, while the number of murders in 2016 stood at 30,450. The NCRB report said that 'disputes' (7,898 cases) were the motive in the maximum number of murder cases, followed by 'personal vendetta (4,660) and 'gain' (2,103).

The NCRB data showed that cases of kidnapping and abduction increased 9 per cent in 2017, with 95,893 cases registered against 88,008 in 2016. The data said that a total of 1,00,555 (23,814 male and 76,741 female) victims were kidnapped or abducted, out of which 56,622 (14,296 male and 42,326 female) victims were children and 43,933 (9,518 male and 34,415 female) victims were adults during 2017.

Maximum cases of kidnapping were reported from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Maharashtra, Bihar and Assam. A total of 19,921 cases of kidnapping were registered in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and 10324 cases were registered in Maharashtra.

As per NCRB data, 3,59,849 cases of crime against women were reported in the country. Uttar Pradesh was on top of the list with 56,011 cases followed by Maharashtra with 31,979 cases and West Bengal 30,002.

In a first, the NCRB also collected data on circulation of “false/fake news and rumours.” The NCRB report showed that maximum cases of circulation of “false/fake news and rumours” were registered in Madhya Pradesh (138) followed by Uttar Pradesh (32) and Kerala (18).

The NCRB data also showed that cybercrimes in India almost doubled in 2017. The cybercrimes, however, made up less than a percentage (0.43%) or 21,796 cases of a total of 50,07,044 cognizable crimes in 2017. According to NCRB, during 2017, 56.0% of cyber-crime cases registered were for the motive of fraud (12,213 out of 21,796 cases) followed by sexual exploitation with 6.7% (1,460 cases) and causing disrepute with 4.6% (1,002 cases).

The NCRB falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs and it is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code and local laws.